# GlobalFoundries and TSMC plan U.S. silicon-interposer supply for AI chips > A five-year, $2 billion agreement calls for new GlobalFoundries capacity to supply silicon interposers for TSMC's CoWoS ecosystem, with volume production expected to ramp in 2028. By BIG CHANGE Editorial Published: 2026-10-08T19:17:52.522Z Updated: 2026-10-08T19:17:52.522Z Canonical: https://bigchange.ai/blog/globalfoundries-tsmc-us-silicon-interposer-ai-packaging ![Conceptual illustration of an unbranded compute die beside a visibly layered high-bandwidth memory package on one circuit substrate.](https://bigchange.ai/api/media/file/hero-v1-1.png) AI-generated conceptual illustration by BIG CHANGE. **Dek:** A five-year, $2 billion agreement calls for new capacity at GlobalFoundries’ Malta, New York site, with volume production expected to start ramping in 2028. TSMC’s advanced CoWoS packages bring processor dies and high-bandwidth memory together in a single assembly. A new agreement with GlobalFoundries is intended to add a U.S. source for one of the pieces that helps connect them: the silicon interposer. GlobalFoundries announced the five-year manufacturing agreement on October 8. It says the deal is valued at $2 billion and calls for added fabrication capacity at its Malta, New York site to supply silicon interposers for TSMC’s CoWoS advanced-packaging ecosystem. GlobalFoundries expects volume production at the site to begin ramping during the first half of 2028. The announcement describes planned work and future capacity; it does not report current interposer output from this agreement. The timing matters because packaging is part of the AI-computing supply chain. A processor and its memory can be available while the package needed to connect them remains a separate manufacturing step. The agreement adds a planned source for an intermediate component. It does not establish how many packages will be produced, how much of TSMC’s total demand the source will cover, or whether customers will receive more AI accelerators as a result. ## What the interposer does In a CoWoS package, TSMC integrates a system-on-chip (SoC) with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) using a silicon interposer. TSMC’s description of the platform says it supports different interposer and package sizes and varying numbers of HBM stacks. Reuters describes the interposer as the component beneath the processor and memory chips that allows them to communicate at high speed. The interposer is a connection layer inside the package, not an AI processor or a complete package by itself. Its job is to provide dense electrical connections among the larger chip components. That makes its fabrication capacity one input to advanced packaging, alongside the other manufacturing and assembly steps that turn dies and memory into a usable accelerator. GlobalFoundries says the planned supply will include advanced-packaging technologies with embedded deep-trench capacitor components. It has not published a capacity figure, product list, customer allocation, or detailed manufacturing schedule in the announcement. Those omissions limit what can be inferred about the agreement’s likely contribution to TSMC’s packaging output. ## A U.S. source, with a long lead time GlobalFoundries characterizes the Malta expansion as establishing the first U.S.-based source of silicon interposers for advanced packaging. That is the company’s description of the supply arrangement; it should not be read as a claim that all interposers or all CoWoS packages will be made in the United States. The initial contract term is five years, and the company says it provides a framework for expanding capacity as customer demand grows. The release does not disclose a yearly delivery schedule or quantify the amount of capacity. Reuters independently reports the same agreement and says the expected production ramp begins in the first half of 2028. That date leaves a substantial interval between announcement and planned output. The deal may give TSMC another source for a component in its packaging chain and give GlobalFoundries a role in a market tied to AI and high-performance computing. Whether it eases a production constraint will depend on the capacity that is actually installed, qualified and brought into volume production, as well as on the rest of the packaging chain. For AI hardware buyers, the announcement is a supply-chain development to track rather than evidence of an immediate increase in accelerator availability. The useful milestones will be later disclosures about facility expansion, qualification, production volumes and customer shipments. GlobalFoundries has not supplied those figures yet. ## The big change GlobalFoundries and TSMC have agreed to develop a U.S.-based supply of silicon interposers for CoWoS packaging, backed by a five-year, $2 billion agreement and planned Malta capacity. Volume production is expected to start ramping in the first half of 2028. The announcement adds a future source to the chain; its effect on package output and AI hardware availability remains unquantified. ## Sources & further reading - [GlobalFoundries: U.S.-based silicon-interposer supply agreement](https://gf.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/globalfoundries-reaches-agreement-establish-us-based-supply) — October 8, 2026. Primary source for the agreement, term, stated value, Malta expansion and expected production ramp. - [TSMC: CoWoS](https://www.tsmc.com/english/dedicatedFoundry/technology/cowos) — TSMC’s technical description of integrating SoC chips and HBM with silicon interposers. - [Reuters: GlobalFoundries to make key AI chip component for TSMC](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/globalfoundries-to-make-key-ai-chip-component-for-tsmc-4939071) — independent reporting on the agreement and its expected production timing. ## Sources - [GlobalFoundries reaches agreement to establish U.S.-based supply of silicon interposers for advanced AI packaging](https://gf.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/globalfoundries-reaches-agreement-establish-us-based-supply) — Primary source for agreement value/scope and planned Malta site capacity; forward-looking statements are not current production. - [CoWoS](https://www.tsmc.com/english/dedicatedFoundry/technology/cowos) — TSMC's technical context for its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate advanced packaging platform. - [GlobalFoundries to make key AI chip component for TSMC](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/globalfoundries-to-make-key-ai-chip-component-for-tsmc-4939071) — Reuters explains the interposer's role and reports the anticipated volume-ramp timing.